


We Live In A Rotten World

by SkyeTheDragonite



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Clementine Needs a Hug (Walking Dead), Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Lilly Being an Asshole (Walking Dead: A New Day), M/M, Parent Lee Everett, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26140480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyeTheDragonite/pseuds/SkyeTheDragonite
Summary: A talk from the police man, a car crash, then the dead walking. This certainly isn't how Lee Everett had imagined his trip to the prison would go.Now he has to work out how to live in this crazy, changed reality.This fic is written mostly in 3rd person perspective.
Relationships: Clementine & Doug (Walking Dead: A New Day), Clementine & Lee Everett, Doug (Walking Dead: A New Day)/Lee Everett
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	We Live In A Rotten World

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically my first fanfic, so i'm not sure how well it'll go, but i hope You enjoy it.
> 
> Also please do let me know if i make any mistakes, sometimes i tend to overlook things. If i do make any and someone points it out i'll be sure to fix them as fast as possible.

The policeman started talking about another case, Lee not paying much attention to it. The man’s attention was instead caught by a slow-moving person, crossing the road without a care, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were about to be hit by a fairly fast-moving car.

”Oh shit!” Lee barely had time to shout before the impact. The car’s windshield got covered in the persons blood, and the vehicle skidded on the asphalt, it’s driver trying to control it, but failing. The passengers, along with other items that laid loosely around the car, were thrown around the vehicle again when it hit the railing, and rolled down the side of the road.

Lee got hit by something in the chaos of it all, and his vision went dark and fuzzy. The man can make out the change of lighting, moving figures, and what he would describe as screams, along with groans. However he isn’t sure of any of the things, since they appear as if through a haze.

When Lee finally regained full consciousness he found himself on the side of the police car. What the man also noticed almost immediately was the pain in his body. He cursed, moving his upper body up, and checking on the cuffs, that were still on his wrists. ”…Thirsty.” He mumbles, tugging at the metal, then groaning again at the, now increased, pain in his right leg.

When his eyes look down he sees a gash on his thigh, with a small amount of blood still flowing out of it he curses again. Trying to ignore thee pain Lee looks around to find something that could help him escape. The passenger door window behind him is broken, but the man’s eyes focus on what’s outside.

The policeman’s body is laying a fairly small distance away, in an odd position, a trail of blood smeared on the ground behind it. It looks like it was dragged. ”Hey! Hey officer! Are you all right?! I’m still cuffed back here!” Lee calls out, silently hoping he’ll receive an answer. When he doesn’t, he looks around for something else that could help him.

The shotgun, that’s now laying on ground outside, catches Lee’s attention next. ”Why the hell did he have his gun out?” He mumbles, turning his attention to the window above himself, giving it a kick. Some cracks form, but it isn’t enough to let him get out, so he repeats it until the window breaks. Luckily none of the shards fell onto him.

He shuffles towards the gap slowly, then drags himself outside the broken vehicle, falling on his side with a groan. Carefully, as to not injure himself further, Lee gets up and leans on the car for support. he then looks over to the policeman, who is still on the ground, unmoving. He decides to investigate.

Slowly limping towards the body, he takes note of the gun. _’It’ll be easier to carry with these cuffs off.’_ As the man stood over the policeman a set of keys on the other’s waist catch his attention. He picks them up and tries to open the handcuffs, but they slip out of his grasp, making him curse, and onto the ground, in front of the officer’s face.

Warily leaning down to get the keys again he hesitates for a moment, fearing something, yet he can’t describe what. Swiftly grabbing the keys he resumes taking off the metal from his wrists, sighing in relief when it falls to the ground. A twitch of the policeman’s hand grabs his attention, the feeling of uneasiness returning.

”Uh, officer?…” He hesitantly asks, not getting a response. Well, not a verbal one, as a moment later the man jumps at him with what would be a groan. Lee falls over, facing the supposed-to-be-dead policeman. Cursing in fear he crawls back towards the car in order to get the gun. The officer crawls towards him, making more groaning sounds.

Lee’s back hits the side of the car and, after a moment of panic, he reaches for the gun. ”Get away from me!” Checking for ammo, his panic increases as he notices the gun’s not loaded. Then he notices the red shell laying to his right, and quickly reaches for it with shaky hands.

”What the hell are you?” He attempts to load the bullet into the shotgun, but the shaking of his hands makes him drop it, causing another curse to sound from the man’s mouth. He reaches for it again, and this time manages to load the weapon, aiming it at the crawling policeman. ”Don’t make me do this…” He pleads, but the other ignores him, not seeming to be bothered by a shotgun pointed at his head.

He crawls closer, and Lee pulls the trigger, a loud bang echoing in the air. The other falls to the ground, moving his arm one more time before going completely limp. The armed man panted, and looked with fear at the, now surely, dead’s head, or what was left of it after the shot. His eyes then turned to the gun he was clothing onto, and he shook his head in disbelief, throwing the weapon aside.

”…man.” Still stiff from fear, he looked at the officer again. _’His skin’s all rotten… and he smells like shit. What the hell is this?’_ Not believing his eyes, nor his mind, Lee shouts at the corpse. ”Are you dead?… HEY! ARE YOU DEAD?” Getting no response for a while, he looks around, spotting a figure in the distance. Still in somewhat of a shock he shouts to the figure, waving to get their attention.

”HELP! Go get someone! There- There’s been a shooting!” He watched as the figure disappeared, hoping that whoever it was didn’t abandon him. Lee looked around nervously. This was far from what he thought this day would be. Was it even the same day? How long had he been unconscious for? It couldn’t have been more than a week, since he didn’t feel _too_ hungry.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of walking. He looked to the left, and after a moment two supposed-to-be-dead people came from behind the tree, heading into the man’s direction. Immediately Lee’s fight or flight response kicked in, and he got up, swiftly yet with some difficulty. He walked forward, and hence his attention on the two living-dead, tripped on the policeman’s corpse.

He got up quickly again, and started to walk, as fast as his wounds leg allowed, into the direction he saw the mysterious figure. His panic rose as he looked around, just to see more of the… things coming at him from basically every direction. While going up a hill he tripped several times, but luckily the things were slow enough for him not to get caught.

Spotting a fence Lee fastened his pace. When he reached it, the man jumped up, and climbed over the build, landing on his ass with a groan. He shuffled backwards, hearing the things hit the fairly thin wooden boards, fearing they might just give in. A shot echoed in the distance, and soon the hitting stopped, instead being replaced by receding footsteps.

Lee got up, back practically stuck to the porch being him, and sighed lightly in relief. _’So sound attracts them. Good to know…’_ Looking around the backyard he was in he noticed a treehouse, a swing, made out of a tire, and a small cart of sorts. Under the tree, next to it’s trunk, was a tea set, and a faded red/pink chair.

There was also a fairly big pool that was covered, next to which was a table and a wooden lawn chair. On the porch there was a table, with a red umbrella attached to it, and another chair. After making sure he didn’t hear anything suspicious he called out. ”Hello? Anybody?”

Turning around to face the treehouse he looked up at it. _’No ladder… I’m not getting up there anyway, this leg the way it is.’_ He though, before calling out again, this time softer. ”Anybody up there?” He didn’t get an answer, and frowned lightly, then called out again, just to be sure. ”Hello? Anybody in there? HELP!” Yet again, no answer.

The man eyed the tea set for a moment. ”I’d fill one of those tea cups with some bourbon if i could.” He said, attempting to lighten his own mood. After giving the area one last quick look, Lee decided to check out the house. He did call out one more time beforehand, after checking for suspicious noises, just in case.

When he reached the sliding glass door and looked inside, the house seemed… dead was the best way to put it. Lee tugged at the door’s handle a few times before it gave in and he was able to open it. Hesitating for a moment he called out. ”Coming in. Don’t shoot, ok?” He then stepped inside, closing the door after. Only now he noticed the sun started to set.

A wave of pain washed through his wounded leg before he spoke. ”Ahh, shit. Hello? I’m not an intruder… or one of THEM.” It was silent, too silent. There was blood on the kitchen floor, making the man’s mind wander. ”These people might need more help than i do.” Lee looked around the kitchen area, and noticed a book on the counter.

Upon inspecting it closer he noticed it was a coloring book, most likely meant for a child. There was a beeping sound from the answering machine, so the man walked over to it, curious as to what was on it. He didn’t want to invade someone’s privacy… but judging from the pool of blood on the kitchen it might not matter now.

He pressed a button, and the machine informed him of 3 new messages in a robotic voice. The first one was left at 5:43 PM. He listened. A light, woman’s voice echoed through the empty house.

_”Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We’re still in Savanna. Ed had a little ’incident’ with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he’s not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we’re staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and i promise we’ll be back in time before your spring break!”_

Lee had no time to think as the second message, left at 11:19 PM, started to play.

_”Oh my God, finally! I don’t know if you’ve tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They’re not letting us leave and aren’t telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I’ve gotta get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you’re safe.”_

This time Diana sounded scared, almost panicked. Then came the last message, this one left at 6:51 AM. The woman’s voice sounded like she was crying.

_”Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That’s 9-1-1. We love you… we love you… we love y-”_

The message cut off. Lee picked up a picture frame with three people on it, presumably Diana, Ed and Clementine. He looked at it for a moment, feeling sorry for this family, then put the picture back down. After a moment a voice echoed from the kitchen, surpassing the man. He headed over to it’s direction, wondering what was the cause.

He opened one of the drawers, seeing a walkie-talkie inside. Picking it up he frowned, wondering if he should answer. Then he headed back to the glass door, pressing a button on the small radio-like device. ”…Hello?” There was a moment of silence before he got a reply. ”You need to be quiet.” Lee looked around suspiciously, the turned back to the inside of the house.

”Are you ok?” He asks the girl. ”I’m ok. They tried to get me. But i’m hiding until my parents come home.” Lee looked at the floor for a moment. He didn’t think that was going to happen, but didn’t say anything, merely turning back to the glass door, then back to the inside, heading to the living room.

”Where are your parents?” He knew the answer, but didn’t know what else to say. ”They took a trip and left me with Sandra. They’re in Savanna i think. Where the boats are.” While the girl was talking Lee moved to the kitchen, and stood in front of the window.

”Where are you?” This time the reply came almost immediately. ”I’m outside in my treehouse. They can’t get in.” Lee smiled lightly at the statement. ”That’s smart.”He commented, still standing in front of the window. His attention was on the treehouse, and after a moment a small flap-door lifted slightly to reveal a little girl, about 8 or 9 years old.

”See? Can you see me? I can see you through the window.” She waved with a small smile. Lee smiled and waved back, the action followed by a moment silence. It was broken by the girls scream, which confused the man at first, before he heard a groan behind himself. He turned around just in time to prevent the attack.

He grabbed the walking-dead by it’s shoulders, and wrestled with it, before pushing it onto the stove. He panted, and attempted to run away, slipping on the pool of blood. As he fell he hit his head on the counter, making his vision and hearing blurry. He managed to kick the thing away from himself, and regain his vision.

He then got up and tried to make a run for it again, but this time was tripped by the thing. Quickly recovering he turned and punched the dead woman away from himself, backing up towards the glass door. The thing grabbed Lee’s leg and pulled him closer, then crawled on top of him. He struggled to keep it away from his face, managing to throw it off himself.

Backing up he heard the girl’s voice from behind. ”Here!” He turned and grabbed the hammer she was holding, smashing it into the attacker’s head, knocking it over. He then repeatedly hit the thing in it’s head, screaming in the process, until it’s face was completely messed up, and he was sure it was dead-dead. Blood spilled onto the floor, staining the wood.

Lee got up, also covered in the liquid, and placed his hands on his knees. ”Man…” Then his attention turned to the girl, and he straightened himself. ”Hi there.” He watched the girl take a few steps back, walking out of the flowing blood’s way. ”Did you kill it?” She asks, making the man nod somewhat guiltily. ”Yes.”

The girl, who was wearing a dress and cap looked up at him. ”It’s ok. I think she was a monster.” Lee replied with a soft tone. ”I think so too.” He then crouched down to the girl’s level. ”You’ve been all by yourself through this?” He asks warily, not wanting to upset the girl. She replies, while swinging her arms back and forth. ”Yeah. I want my parents to come home now.”

Lee’s heart sinks a little at the girls words, almost as if someone had hit him. ”I think that might be a little while, you know?” The answer was chosen carefully. Very carefully. The girl replied with a quiet ’oh’, looking down at the floor. Lee walked closer, ignoring the pain in his leg. No-one should be alone in this kind of situation, especially not a child.

”Look, i don’t know what happened. But i’ll look after you until then.” He said softly. The girl avoided his eyes for a moment, before looking at him. ”What should we do now?” She asks, making Lee think for a moment. To be fair, he didn’t really plan that far ahead. The only reasonable thing to do would be to search for help, right? Otherwise they could spend the night at the girl’s house.

So the two agreed on looking for help. They headed for the house’s gate, figuring staying in the house won’t help, and Lee noticed two men. They were pushing cars out of the street, presumably to be able to drive by. Once they were in hearing distance Lee heard them complain. He went to open the gate, but looked at the girl who seemed unsure.

Kneeling down to her height again he asked what’s wrong. ”Should i stay?” This confused the man. ”I don’t want to sleep in the treehouse tonight, but i don’t know if i should leave. What if my parents come home?” She explained, and Lee felt a tug on his heart yet again. He had to be honest. There would be no benefit of lying. ”They won’t. We should go.” There was disappointment in her eyes, but there hope sparkled again, even if just slightly. ”Then they’ll find me, right?”

There it was again. Lee wasn’t about to crush Clementine’s, her remembered the name from the recording, heart by saying what was most likely the truth. But he didn’t want to lie either. ”I won’t leave you alone, ok?” He stood up with a half-smile, turning to open the gate with the girl.

When they were outside, he called out to the two men. ”Hey!” The more chubby one put out his hands in a defensive manner while the other cursed. ”DON’T EAT US!” The first one exclaimed. Lee put out his hands in a calming manner. ”We’re not gonna hurt you.” There was a moment of silence as everyone relaxed slightly.

”Phew, thought for a second you and the little one were BOTH going to give us the chomp.” Lee narrowed his eyes slightly, in thought. ”We need help.” The, seemingly, younger man was one to speak, this time as well.

„Are you trying to get out of here? Because you should be. Those things are all over that damn place. I haven’t seen anything as gnarly as this neighborhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back. I’m Shawn, Shawn Greene.” The younger man introduced himself with a small smirk. Lee told the others his name, then the girl’s.

The older man kneeled down to Clem’s height. ”I’m Chet.” The girl gave a shy smile, taking a step to the side to hide behind Lee. Shawn spoke up again. ”We shouldn’t be out in the open like this. How about you help us clear the way and we’ll take you and your daughter out of here, and down to my family’s farm. It should be safer there.”

Lee frowned lightly at the statement. ”I’m not her dad. I’m…” He hesitated. Would they be suspicious that a random guy’s taking care of a little girl? He didn’t really want to lie, but for the sake of not having to explain himself, he did. ”…a neighbor. Her parents are out of town.” Clem looked up at him unsurely, something about the tone of that statement sounding odd.

Shawn ushered for them to get going, and Lee turned to the girl. ”What do you want to do?” She shook her head slightly, looking back at the house front door. Her hesitance was obvious. ”I…” She then looked back at Lee, as if asking for guidance. Then the air filled with the chilling groans Lee and Clem heard far too many times already.

”Them monsters comin’! WE GOTTA GO!” This time Chet was the one to push on the four leaving, but was smart enough to do it quietly. Shawn asked Lee to help with pushing the car aside, and the two men got to work. The third man hid behind the two’s car. After the first push Clementine joined in, helping as much as she could.

After the car was out of the way everyone jumped into the red pickup truck, Chet in the trunk, and Shawn sped out of the alive-dead filled road. ”Were any of those guys neighbors too?” He asked. Clementine was looking through the back window, seeing her home get further away as the car drove out the small town.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, that's the first chapter for Y'all.
> 
> I feel like i should warn this will be a slow-update book, since i tend to not have time and/or energy to write sometimes, but i'll be sure to try and get at least 1 update every 1/2 weeks.


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